Sometimes things do not turn out quite the way I expect them to. I\u2019m an adult, with an advanced degree from one of the finest universities in the world. I\u2019ve been teaching college level courses in ancient languages, theology and the Bible for more than twenty years. I\u2019m a professional theologian and write books and essays. I like to think of myself as rational, with a practical and realistic view of the world. Most of the time I\u2019m right about what I think and say. I study the Bible on a daily basis and I believe that God hears our prayers. I\u2019m an ordained deacon and an adult Sunday School teacher.<\/p>\n
Yes indeed. Ask me something about God and I can give you an answer. <\/p>\n
But my youngest daughter was able to show me that I still don\u2019t know much at all and that maybe a child\u2019s faith is more important than I\u2019ll ever understand.<\/p>\n
A few years ago, when she was eleven years old, one of the elderly women in our church took seriously ill. My daughter knew her well, because we picked her up each Sunday to bring her to church. At 83, she was no longer able to drive herself. The State of California did not make this determination. After totaling two cars in a few months\u2019 time, she had finally agreed with her friends that she should give up driving. We suspect this had more to do with the fact that she simply didn\u2019t have a car anymore than anything else. So at 80, she had stopped driving. But she had not let her inability to drive slow her down. A school teacher in her younger years, she continued tutoring troubled children on a weekly basis, using the local bus service to get to her appointments. It was not uncommon to see her huffing about town with her walker, sometimes for blocks, in order to get from a bus stop to the homes of those she was trying to help.<\/p>\n
When we got the phone call that she had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance, we were told that she was in very serious condition. After hanging up the phone, we very carefully explained to my daughter what we\u2019d learned. With equanimity, she took in the news that our elderly friend was desperately ill.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cShe most likely had a heart attack,\u201d I told her softly.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSo is she going to get better?\u201d My little daughter looked up at me with her big blue eyes.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cProbably not. She\u2019s 83 years old and she\u2019s in the hospital now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe should pray for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOkay.\u201d I frowned.<\/p>\n
\tMy daughter bowed her head. \u201cDear God, please help her to get well soon and come home from the hospital. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tI tried explaining to my daughter again just how unlikely it was that such an elderly person would get better, but she went out happily to play in the front yard, convinced that she would be just fine now.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cShe\u2019s going to be dead by morning,\u201d I told my wife, who nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n
\tBut come the next morning, this 83 year old woman was not dead. In fact, she was much better. It turned out that it wasn\u2019t a heart attack after all: it was her gall bladder.
\nA few weeks later, after the surgery to take it out, she recovered and was moved to a nursing care facility. \u201cNo one gets out of places like that,\u201d I commented to my wife again. \u201cThose are just Heaven\u2019s waiting rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut my daughter kept praying and kept insisting to me that \u201cShe will be just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sure enough, a month later our elderly friend left the nursing home and moved in with her son, as spry as ever. Years later, she\u2019s still doing well.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cGod answered my prayer, didn\u2019t he daddy?\u201d asked my daughter. Her very surprised theologian father couldn\u2019t help but agree. Perhaps it\u2019s no wonder Jesus used children to illustrate what real faith was all about\u2014instead of middle-aged theologians.<\/p>\n
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